from a Vanity Fair article:
Citing sources familiar with Trump’s thinking, the Daily Beast on Wednesday
reported that Trump’s goal for the heavily criticized NBC town hall is to bring in higher ratings than
Joe Biden’s ABC town hall, and to mock his Democratic opponent over it in the final weeks of the election. “He looks at this the same way he looks at attendance at his rallies versus the [turnout] Biden gets for his events,” a source told the outlet. “He obviously wants to blow Biden out of the water.”
Does that sound petty and childish? Of course. But it’s in character for Trump, who came to the presidency by way of television and has never shaken his preoccupation with viewership ratings as the ultimate validation. He never seems so proud of anything as he is when he brings in good ratings, featuring them on his Twitter account like a child taping his finger-painting to the refrigerator door. “The White House News Conference ratings are ‘through the roof,’” he
boasted in April, referring to the press briefings that were ostensibly about the deadly pandemic gripping America. By the same token, there is perhaps no insult Trump can think of more gutting than allegations of bad ratings, and he levels it against
media figures,
outlets, and
leagues.